Fishers on the 440 under-10m vessels subject to an annual quota cap will not face the limitation for the remainder of 2023 following a decision by Defra and Marine Management Organisation (MMO).

These vessels will now be able to fish up to the monthly limits in the same way as all other under-10m vessels that have their quota managed by the MMO. These limits are published here.

The cap, which restricted certain vessels to catching no more than 350kg of quota species in a year, was originally put in place to align the available quota with the number of vessels that were actively fishing for quota stocks.

But extra quota derived from leaving the EU along with a need for under-10m vessels to diversify their activities resulted in trials of the cap being lifted in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

After reviewing the trials, Defra and MMO have decided to remove the restriction for the rest of this year while Defra work towards a final decision on its long-term future before the start of 2024.

Further information can be read here.